Diana Matheson eager to play for Canada's soccer team

The last time Diana Matheson was in Vancouver, she watched a soccer game from the side-lines and paced around like a nervous parent.

The Canadian international midfielder had knee surgery last November and had to miss the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament at BC Place in January but was part of the Canada's off-field leadership group.

"It was definitely stressful on the sidelines in Vancouver," Matheson said Thursday after training with the national squad at Trillium Park. "It's a totally different vantage point. Now I know how my parents feel when they watch."

After Canada grabbed one of two Olympic berths in the CONCACAF tourney, Matheson had six months to recover from her knee issue before the Olympic tournament in late July.

Half that time has passed now and Matheson joined her team-mates in Vancouver this week for the residency camp that has the national team based in the city until June.

The 28-year-old, five-foot-nothing midfield dynamo - the third most-capped Canadian woman of all time, with 130 appearances for her country - spent the past two weeks testing her knee by training with a boys' team in her native Oakville, Ont.

She feels her comeback training sessions with the national team in Vancouver this week have gone well.

"When I'm out there, it feels pretty normal," Matheson said. "Three months to get ready [for the Olympics] is plenty of time."

In a perfect world, she would have been ready to play months ago, but the six-week recovery period from microfracture surgery to repair torn cartilage in her right knee turned into six months - the longest down time in her career.

"I never doubted I would be back for the Olympics - I just wasn't sure how many drugs it was going to take," Matheson said with a laugh. "Fortunately, I think I'm going to be all right."

For the next three months, she has to keep to a strict routine that carefully balances work and rest so she will be 100-per-cent ready by the time Canada plays its first Olympic game against Japan on July 25.

"If it was just about physical exercise, it would be easy because we're good at pushing ourselves physically," Matheson said.

"This is more about resting and waiting and doing less, which I think is more challenging for an athlete than just working hard."

Canadian head coach John Herdman is clearly pleased to have Matheson back.

"At one point, it looked a bit scary and that maybe we wouldn't get her back for the Olympics," he said. "But seeing her here on the field, she's starting to move a bit more freely. I wouldn't say she's 100 per cent yet but she has three months to get to that level."

Herdman said Matheson, affectionately known as "D," has played at the highest level internationally since she was 15 and brings a wealth of experience, technique and "real midfield understanding" to his team.

"She brings a real football intelligence that you need to break down disciplined defences," he said. "She'll make those passes and just get into positions at the right time, things that other players are still maybe learning."

Herdman said Matheson was one of the national team's "tactical architects" during the Pan American Games and Olympic qualifying tournament and will "retake" that role on the field.

"I think it will mean even more now because she can actually put it into practice," he said.

Matheson, who holds the record for the most consecutive senior international appearances by a Canadian woman [45], said the national squad can medal in London by working hard over the next three months to close the gap between itself and top teams such as the U.S. and Japan.

"It's not a big gap," she said. "We always have close games with those teams so it's just about being more consistent."

SIDE KICKS: Herdman said more national team players will likely agree soon to play for the W-League Vancouver White-caps while they are based in the Vancouver residency camp. The Caps announced this week that national team midfielder Desiree Scott and striker Chelsea Buckland will join the club this season.

Herdman said his players won't miss any national team training sessions and won't train with the Whitecaps. He expects they will play mostly home games and away games that don't require a lot of travel.

"It gives them a chance to play competitively, in a more pressurized situation," Herd-man said.

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